WINDMILLS AND PUMPS. 265 



wind will smash things. Put both valves in perfect 

 order. As for the windmill, if a solid wheel, sec that 

 t ho brake is adjusted so that it will hold the wheel mo- 

 tionless when out of wind. If the brake has too light 

 pressure, a change of wind, if the wind is light, will 

 turn the wheel slowly without acting on the vane, and it 

 will pump slowly and freeze the water. The main things 

 are tight valves, so that water will be pumped when the 

 windmill turns, no matter how slowly ; a small vent to 

 let the water back after pumping ceases small enough 

 so it will not allow water to run out fast enough, when 

 pumping slowly, to cut off the flow from the spout and 

 a tight brake to bold the wheel perfectly motionless 

 when turned out of wind. If wooden tanks leak from 

 shrinkage the evil can soon be remedied by throwing in 

 a quart or so of bran, which will soon fill the crevices 

 and stop leakage. 



Cost of Lifting Water. The cost of furnishing 

 the power by means of steam varies according to the 

 amount to be furnished and the cost of fuel. It requires 

 the same labor to attend a five horse-power boiler and 

 engine as it would require for a fifty horse-power outfit. 

 It will probably average twenty-five to thirty-five cents 

 for each horse power for the operation. of any plant of 

 ten to twenty-five horse-power capacity. Say it costs 

 thirty cents ; then the cost of putting one inch of water 

 on twenty-four acres a day would be three dollars for a 

 twenty-five foot elevation, or twelve and one-half cents 

 an acre. Or, in other words, a two-inch flow on each 

 acre could be obtained for twenty-five cents if produced 

 by steam. A centrifugal pump, driven by a gasoline 

 engine, would accomplish the same result at an expendi- 

 ture not to exceed eight or nine cents. This engine 

 needs no attention. It uses but one gallon of gasoline 

 for each horse power in a day of ten hours. Wind 

 engine power costs so little that the total annual expense 



